From Good to Outstanding

No doubt, all professionals are required to keep up with the times and continue to develop. Teaching is a challenging profession that is constantly changing. Just when you think you have sussed it out and you have it all under control…ta-da! In come the new: methods of assessment, differentiation strategies, marking systems, lesson objectives, criteria; the list is endless. Adapting is a necessity, but how does one do all that without it engulfing your entire life?

You work to live, not live to work, right? With inspection-adrenaline hitting the roof, I catch myself wondering if being inspected makes you a better teacher or if you become a better teacher by being inspected?

The weeks and days prior to my inspection were painful because so much had to be done in such a short time. Things needed to have been successfully implemented as fast as possible. Liking things being near perfect and getting everything as close to perfect as possible, brought anxiety to a whole new level. Countless out of school hours, including every weekend leading up to the inspection days, were spent on self-improvement strategies and on developing further as a professional. A lot of research on current British pedagogical teaching methods and the DfE standards for outstanding teaching was done. This presentation was created, as a result of sieving through the internet and talking to outstanding teachers, to help myself and my wonderful colleagues, become better educators. The feedback I got was so positive that I decided it would be a good idea to share it with more colleagues around the world. For those of you who would like something short and sweet to take into consideration when preparing for an inspection and delivering outstanding lessons, I hope this helps you, too.

Through this experience, my teaching has changed; I believe for the better. Lessons have undergone major revamping to cater for all abilities and to include all the current teaching methods, used in outstanding schools . I believe that my students have benefited to a great extent as lessons became more meaningful and the quality of learning heightened.

Highly structured learning is truly amazing and is every teachers dream. It does however, require everything to go according to plan, something which does not always happen. We must not forget that teachers are responsible for children’s hearts, souls, well-being as well as giving them the knowledge that is needed. The child must be seen as a whole, not just purely by academic achievement and/or attainment. With this in mind, I wonder: if I delivered a lesson using the latest technology and all the new lesson plan prerequisites, would this make me a better teacher than if I was using an old fashioned blackboard and nothing else other than chalk and great ideas?

Yes, times are changing and teachers need to keep up with the times in order to be able to relate to the young generations but let’s try not to get carried away and shift our focus from the how to the why. Let’s not forget that education is more than just delivering outstanding lessons. If the way forward results to teaching being overworked, underpaid and leaving the profession, then something is horribly wrong. A Guardian survey shows huge concerns over workload, with teachers at breaking point. The survey found 98% of teachers are under increasing stress and 82% say their workload is unmanageable.

Yet, this does not have to be the case. I truly believe that a happy, valued, passionate teacher will undoubtably create a safe, warm, inspirational environment for children to blossom and reach their full potential. For true teaching is none other that a work of heart. ❤